cracked gears

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

hi again, i was wondering,

i recently purchased 2 gp9 proto locos and found out that they have the cracked gear syndrome.

would atlas or athearn gears do the job? they’re the smaller ones on the axel. any help or suggestions r appreciated.

gracias

2

I use the Athearn gears.

3

I’ve never had this issue but there was a Thread in 2009 that discussed this problem:

“Proto 2K cracked or split gears? Started on 9-26-09”

Just do a search for cracked gears proto locomotives and this thread will pop up: I took a quick glance at it and it seems appropriate for your problem.

Good Luck,

Wayne

4

You can get the axle/gear/wheel assemblies from Walthers but it will cost you. I have used the Athearn gears for the 2 axle trucks to replace the cracked P2K gears. The Athearn gears are cheaper and it is an easy job to swap out. I once bought 4 axles from Walthers for a GP9 and with shipping it was over $10. Six months later the same loco was skipping to the beat of the cracked gear drum. I called Walthers and was told there is no warranty on replacement parts. I said thank you and called Athearn and bought 24 gears with shipping for $6.

Pete

5

Athearn part # 60024 pkg.of 6

6

Athearn now charges a $10 shipping and handling fee regardless of the value or weight of the repair part.

BUT Athearn gears are much better and should never crack like the P2K gears, and I’ve heard that Walthers no longer offers free replacements.

http://www.athearn.com/Products/Parts/Default.aspx

Although Athearn’s parts department lists the gears (60024) as being for an SD 40-2, they will fit practically any Athearn diesel except Genesis, and practically all P1K and P2K locomotives.

7

order them thru your LHS to avoid shipping charges

8

OK, dumb ol’ me…I copy the line inside the quotes

“Proto 2K cracked or split gears? Started on 9-26-09”

and paste into the “Search this site”, hit go and get 0 results. What am I doing wrong?

Problem solved, using the wrong search box, sorry for the traffic on the site

9

Just paste this into the search line: Proto 2K cracked or split gears

10

If you found the thread, would it not be just as easy to post the link directly to it?

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/160710/1770744.aspx#1770744

11

No, I didn’t find the thread but I knew the reason he couldn’t find it was that he was pasting the entire line in the search line. I simply cut the garbage off it so it would work.

12

Dr. Bones,

The problem you had with the search function was my fault: I was pretty sloppy in my written instructions and should have been more precise in how to use this valuable tool. I apologize for my lack of clarity…[:$]

Thanks Jeff for taking care of this and explaining the proper use of the search tool…

Wayne

13

thanx everyone 4 answers i ordered thru my hobby shop finally and am waiting 4 the parts but if they crack again i’ll know what to do

14

It won’t happen again, only the originals have the problem.

–Randy

15

I’ve never heard of any of Proto’s “Tune Up Kit’s” cracking until I read this thread. [:S] I’ve replaced probably 30 loco’s wheel sets with the Kit’s and never had a problem ever again. I was lucky, I got mine for free when Walthers first bought Proto.

16

I used athearn replacement gears. They are tighter on the axle than the orginals. I press them on with two blocks of wood. Then spread them a little to my flange gauge. Hope this helps, NKPMIKE

17

1st place hobbies carries these, at a discount. I just received 8 packages of the Athearn 60024 replacement axles from them on Thursday. Fixed three locos this weekend…